macbook air and what I think

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I keep getting asked what I think about the new macbook air. What’s interesting is that the tone in which the question is asked is “Hey, this thing is greatest”. I’m not going to bore anyone with a personal review of a machine I haven’t had in my possession for any amount of time. However, I will try to best answer that looming question of “what do I think?”

The introduction of the Air at MacWorld was awesome. They could have just called the event AirWorld since that’s really what Apple was pushing and it was nice to see something other iPod or iPhone related. The WOW factor was definitely there. Who could have imagined a laptop so small that it fit in an envelope? Ok well others have but who ever thought about something that had as much power as this one? None so far is the answer. Intel came through by producing a processor that is significantly smaller and more efficient; which is the primary alloanwce for the small Air form factor. You do get a full size screen and keyboard which for users of ultra portables is a gift from above. Of course, there are sacrifices to be made in order to get such a small package. Before I get into the obvious ones, let me just say that I don’t believe any of the to be critical other than the battery issue.

The battery is enclosed in the laptop. Sorry, no swappable option exists unless you want to pull your Air a part. This will be a huge problem for road warriors as there will be times when they will not be able to use a power outlet. The next issue is the limited inputs ie. one lonely USB 2.0 port is all that is available. Of course, I’m guessing Apples thought behind this is that everyone is using bluetooth enabled accessories. I might be able to get on board with this one if bluetooth syncing was available for the iPhone (Hello Apple, than you for listening). Yes, there is no optical drive built in but you can pick one up if you like. The work around here is downloadable content and a nifty way to utilize other computers drives as your own when on the same network. So far not too many gripes but what about that question? Well, it’s a really sexy piece of hardware but I don’t think it’s something that anyone should be running out to gobble up. It doesn’t do anything really better than the equipment I currently have and at its $1700 starting price is a bit prohibitive for that reason. This is a unique piece of hardware and it seems really designed for a small niche but no one seems to know what that niche is. The hands on reviews will start coming in over the next week or two so we’ll have to wait for those but for now, I say it’s nice but wait and see what comes out by summer. The last time I jumped on the forefront I picked up a MBP and within 4 months it was being replaced with newer screens, cooler running hardware and faster processors. Just you wait….but if you can’t ENJOY IT!